Change is here to stay and there will be no return to “normal” for many higher education institutions, were some of the main conclusions determined by a recent research report.
Education experts were asked to provide input across five macro trends for the EDUCAUSE Teaching and Learning Horizon Report. After distilling the changes of the last two years, they identified the following trends by category:
- Social: Hybrid and online learning; skills-based learning; remote work
- Technological: Learning analytics & big data; redefining instructional modalities; cybersecurity
- Economic: Cost and value of college degrees; the digital economy; financial deficits
- Environmental: Physical campus structures; sustainable development goals; planetary health
- Political: Political instability driving uncertainty in higher education, political ideology impacting pedagogy; decrease in public funding
These trends have enormous implications for how colleges and universities will need to change practices and spending to respond to these cultural and technology drivers.
Key technologies and practices
The following items rose to the top of a long list of emerging technologies and practices that will have a significant impact on the future of postsecondary teaching and learning.
- AI for learning analytics
- AI for learning tools
- Hybrid learning spaces
- Mainstreaming hybrid/remote learning modes
- Micro-credentialing
- Professional development for hybrid/remote teaching
Panelists were asked to consider these trends through the lens of equity and inclusion, learning outcomes, risks; learner and instructor receptiveness, cost, and new literacies required on the part of learners and instructors.
Four potential future scenarios
Based on the trends data and key technologies and practices listed above, panelists sketched out four possible future scenarios for colleges and universities.
- Growth: The normalization of hybrid and online learning models parallel increasing interest in personalized learning experiences and micro-credentialing programs. It also contributes to growth in digital data, allowing institutions to more effectively use equitable AI technologies.
- Constraint: Sustainability practices are of increasing importance as institutions shrink their physical footprints. Many schools are choosing to invest more in online capabilities and eco-friendly facilities to minimize consumption and waste. Institutions are financially impacted as funding agencies increasingly include sustainability goals as project requirements and industry partners navigate new government regulations and taxes tied to sustainability.
- Collapse: As political divisions intensify university leaders are finding they have to align their mission and practices with specific political groups. These allegiances impact business and programming decisions around curriculum and pedagogy. In hotspots around the world, physical safety and cybersecurity needs are driving institutional investments in surveillance technologies.
- Transformation: Higher education is being re-imagined to better fit the demands of professional industries and the needs of the workforce of the future. Traditional four-year and graduate degree programs are being abandoned in favor of more practical, customizable, and lifelong models of skills attainment and credentialing. Micro-credentialing and online/hybrid learning are well-suited to these more personalized and flexible options.
What seems most likely is that the future of higher education will actually be a blend of these four scenarios with individual institutions incorporating multiple trends to serve their unique communities. The embrace of digital technologies and shift to alternative instructional models has been welcomed by many students and faculties. Institutions want to create the most impactful, student-centered learning experience possible, and this will drive the adoption of new technologies and practices.